Super 1 National Kart Championships

The Super 1 National Kart Championships karting is a karting championship based in the United Kingdom. It has been in operation since 1983 and is regarded as the premier karting championship in the UK.

History

The first Super 1 meeting was held in 1983 at Snetterton where only 4 classes were ran as part of the championship. At the time, the championship was not officially recognised as being the "British Championship" as the RAC national titles were decided over a one-weekend event. This continued up till 1990 when Super 1 secured the rights to decide the British champion over the course of the series.

Over the years, the Super 1 series has produced champions that have gone on to race in Formula 1 such as David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson, Ralph Firmin and Lewis Hamilton. Other drivers who have won a Super 1 championship and who have gone on to professional motor racing include Gary Paffett, Dan Wheldon, Ben Hanley, Oliver Jarvis and Allan McNish.

Classes

Originally, there were only 4 classes in the Super 1 series. Currently there are 14 different classes that run within the series:

*KF1 (MSA British Kart Championships)
*KF2
*KF3 (MSA British Junior Kart Championships)
*Rotax Max
*Rotax Max 177
*TKM Extreme
*TKM 4 Stroke
*Rotax DD2
*Junior Rotax Max
*Junior TKM
*Junior TKM 4 Stroke
*Minimax
*W60 Comer Cadet
*Honda Cadet

Out of the above, only two classes are recognised by the Motorsports Association as being British Championships. The rest are recognised by the Association of British Kart Clubs as National Championships. Each class also has seeded rankings for the top 15 finishers in the championship standings for the use of their finishing number until the end of the following years series.

Races

Currently, there are 18 Super 1 race meetings each year split into 3 separate championship series: the MSA series (for KF1,KF2,KF3 and W60 Cadet), the TKM series (for all TKM classes plus Honda Cadet) and the Rotax series (for all Rotax classes). Each series has 6 rounds at different locations throughout the UK (usually at circuits which are regarded as "premier" venues).

Circuits

Each one of the 3 Super 1 series will visit 6 different circuits throughout the year. However, some circuits may host 2 or 3 S1 meetings during the year, each for different series (i.e. PF International regularly hosts two S1 meetings in a year because it is generally regarded as a prestigious venue).

Some circuits also traditionally hold a particular S1 round at a certain time of the year. Such examples include the first Rotax series round at Clay Pigeon in mid-March and the first MSA series round at Three Sisters 1 or 2 weeks after the 0 plate meeting at the same venue.

Officals

The current series co-ordinator for Super 1 is Neil Hann. Hann is responsible for promoting the championship as well as organising the calendar/venues for each season. The competition secretary is Sonja Game who is responsible for championship points and processing entries into the championship.

There are normally 3 or 4 clerks of the courses who attend the Super 1 meetings, the most regular ones being Phil Cox, Rod Taylor and Alan Bryant. The series' chief scrutineer is Paul Klaassen and fuel is supplied by ATOL.

External links

* [http://www.s1series.co.uk/ Offical website for the Super 1 Series]
* [http://www.karting.co.uk/abkc/PASTWINNERSS1.pdf list of all S1 champions since 1983]